To talk about what you are in the mood for, or what matters to you, Croatian uses idiomatic expressions with the preposition do. Since do requires the Genitive case, the noun or pronoun following it will always be in the Genitive.
Expressing Mood: "Biti do"
To express what you are (or aren't) in the mood for, use a Dative pronoun (indicating who feels the mood) with the verb biti (to be) + do + a Genitive noun. The negative (nije mi do) is frequently used to politely decline invitations.
| Honestly, tonight I am not in the mood for laughter. | Iskreno, večeras mi nije do smijeha. |
| Since we are sick, we aren't in the mood for socializing near the sea. | Budući da smo bolesni, nije nam do druženja pokraj mora. |
Notice how the Dative pronouns mi (to me) and nam (to us) show whose mood is being described. The activities—smijeha (laughter) and druženja (socializing)—take the Genitive case.
| Honestly, he is not in the mood for gossiping and superficiality. | Iskreno, nije mu do ogovaranja i površnosti. |
Expressing Caring: "Stalo mi je do"
To say that you deeply care about something, use the word stalo in a similar structure: a Dative pronoun + stalo + je do + Genitive.
| caring (in 'stalo mi je do') | stalo |
| Do you even care about that trifle? | Je li tebi uopće stalo do te sitnice? |
| Either you care about us, or you care about making excuses! | Ili ti je stalo do nas, ili ti je stalo do izmotavanja! |
Working with Verbal Nouns
You will frequently use verbal nouns to talk about moods and interests. These typically end in -nje and behave like neuter nouns, taking the -nja ending in the Genitive case.
| She is always in the mood for rivalry and proving herself. | Njoj je uvijek do nadmetanja i dokazivanja. |
Once you are comfortable with both phrases, you can easily contrast what matters to you with what you aren't in the mood for using the exact same grammatical pattern.
| Small things matter to me, but I am not in the mood for gossiping. | Stalo mi je do sitnica, ali nije mi do ogovaranja. |